The Advancement Project, the Los Angeles-based civil rights and advocacy organization, has come up with what it calls a “student needs index” to identify the schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District with the greatest needs.
The organization, partnering with the Community Coalition and InnerCity Struggle, argues that most of
The publication of the index coincided with the release of the draft Local Control and Accountability Plan by Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy on Tuesday. (Go here for an EdSource report on the release of the draft plan.)
Because it is by far the state’s largest district, with nearly 1,000 schools, the district is being closely watched by policy makers and key education constituencies to see how the state’s new funding formula will be implemented. The district will receive a projected $837 million in additional grants based on the number of low-income students, English learners and foster children enrolled in the district.
“We understand and applaud the governor’s framework (for school financing) to focus on the highest-needs students,” said John Kim, the Advancement Project’s managing co-director. But he said there are “large swaths of disparities between the highest- and lowest-needs schools.” The index, he said, offers a way for the district to prioritize how and where it spends state education funds.
The index is based on a dozen different factors. These include 3rd and 8th grade test scores, high school dropout rates, access to child care, the presence of crime-prevention services, and a
The potential of the state’s new education funding system was on full display this week when Los Angeles Unified School Superintendent John Deasy presented a draft accountability plan that included a dizzying array of new ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]